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At 4 p.m., American Electric Power reported 47,000 customers were still without power, the
bulk of those in Athens and Newark. About 7,200 outages were still being reported in the city of
Columbus. A spokeswoman said the pockets of outages have been taken care of, and crews are now
working to repair individual lines to homes and businesses.

At its peak after the June 29 storm, AEP had 660,000 customers without power.

The temperature didn’t get as high as predicted today, the National Weather Service said. But
Columbus’ 101 degrees broke the previous record for July 7 of 100, set in 1988. The National
Weather Service said Dayton has been among the hottest spots at 103; Cincinnati hit 102.

Volunteers have fanned out across the city all day to check on the most vulnerable: the sick,
the shut-ins, the elderly and the poor.

So far, officials have not reported any deaths or catastrophes.

In fact, as the power is restored, there has been jubilation.

In Clintonville, Henry Lester stood outside his duplex on W. California Avenue and watched as
a crew of linemen from Texas reinstalled a power line to the power pole in his back alley.

He had been nine days without power now, and at 4:20 p.m., when a lineman gave him the thumbs
up, he walked inside his kitchen and flipped the switch.

The lights came on. And not a moment too soon.

His thermostat read 89 degrees on his first floor; he knows it was much hotter on the second.

His wife and daughter left to stay with relatives earlier in the week, but he had stayed
behind to watch the house. He’s been sleeping on a cot in the basement, and eating cold cuts he
kept in an ice-filled cooler.

The only one on his block today who was still without power, he flagged down the passing
electricity crew and was grateful when they stopped to help him.

“It’s just stifling, where you can’t even hardly breathe,” Lester said. “There’s just been no
way to escape this kind of heat.”